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[ShadowBlade]

Hey there, guys.

I've been trying to find the interlocked package of Rules of Engagement 2 and Breach 3 that was once hosted in HOTU, but to no avail. Most downloads have returned 404s ever since the crash in September, so the site's now a drifting derelict more than ever (even the forum went down sometime ago).

According to what I've read, one has to extract Breach 3 into ROE2's main directory and apply the 1.08 patch to the former for the interlocking to work. Unfortunately, such patch is nowhere to be found, so here I am, hoping to find an Abandonian who downloaded HOTU's interlocked package back when the downloads were working.

Thanks in advance.

[The Fifth Horseman]

There's a site which mirrorred most - if not all - of HOTU's games, extras and reviews.
I'll try to dig up what you're asking for by tomorrow.

[Luchsen]

Have fun!, it's down.

[scourge]

Hate ta tell ya, folks... HotU is D-E-A-D dead. Far as i've been able to ascertain thus far, the host went under, and Sarinee (AKA Underdogs, the owner) has paid very little attention to the the site for the last couple o' years. It's been mostly maintained (such as it was) by her handpicked assistants/admins and the community at large, though as far as I know she was still paying the bills, which is another issue, as it had become quite hideously expensive. She is altogether too occupied with her professional responsibilities, other hobbies, and the general state of affairs in her Country (Thailand, and if you are at least semi-aware of international current affairs, you know things have been over there lately) too spend much time on HotU. It was her pet project for many years, her brainchild, and something she really did not want to let die, but we all have to make choices, ya know? At any rate, I've not heard anything at this point about Sarinee making a decision, assuming she is even aware of what happened yet. I've been a regular at the site and associated forums since the early days of gamingdepot and ezboard hosting everything, so I really hate to see it die, and it truly is an irreplacable resource and a great museum or monument of sorts, but many of us were starting to feel that perhaps Sarinee should, in fact, simply let it die in peace. I rather doubt the downloads would have even been totally fixed anyhow, as it is my understanding that most of the files were destroyed in "the incident", and they would have to have been collected from whereever and whomever they might be found, and added again from scratch. I'm sure we would all have helped to some degree, but with the many thousnds of files, it was an incredibly daunting task, either way.

In short, at this point, I do not believe that HotU will coming back, although given some of the occurences and forum discussions prior to the site going down, I have some hope that it might be resurrected of sorts in the form of a tribute or mirror or such. If the claims a certain individual made are actually true. And if the gentleman actually decides to go ahead with the project, of course.

[Geezer]

I think I can help you out with this one. I've got both games and I'm pretty sure I have the patch as well. I'm traveling right now so you will have to wait for me to get back next week. If you haven't gotten hold of it by then I'll see what I can do.

I was scanning the Rules of Engagement manual last summer when this site went stagnant. It's some eighty pages long and talks about how to merge the games together. Sounds cool.

[scourge]

Well, I'm certainly interested! Actually how I ended up here in the first place. I was looking for some place with the linked package, now that HotU is gone. Also, so far as I know, HotU was the only place to find the manual, as well. Other sites with the unlinked games for download never had the manual. I got one o' them nostalgic bugs up my skirt (so to speak) to play Breach and ROE again, but discovered the hard way how utterly rare the linked IGS package is.

[Geezer]

OK, I'm back and to set things straight I may or may not be able to help you out. Rules of Engagement, Rules of Engagement 2, Breach 2 (with the patch) and Breach 3 are all part of the Interlocking Game System (IGS). I have the original Rules of Engagement and both Breach 2 and Breach 3. I'm not sure if Rules of Engagement 2 and Breach 3 are abandoned or not. Breach 3 didn't come out until 95. The manual for the first Rules of Engagement (212 pages) has an appendix that describes how to use the IGS. That is the manual that I am scanning ... and scanning ... and scanning.

[scourge]

My apologies for bumping an old thread, but what ever happened with this? I still have that wild hair bugging me, if ya know what I mean. I would truly, truly love to get my paws on a linked copy of Breach 3 and RoE2 w/ manual. Although, at this point, I'm afraid I just might drop dead of a stroke if I actually laid my hands (so to speak) on a copy.

[Geezer]

Originally Posted by scourge

My apologies for bumping an old thread, but what ever happened with this? I still have that wild hair bugging me, if ya know what I mean. I would truly, truly love to get my paws on a linked copy of Breach 3 and RoE2 w/ manual. Although, at this point, I'm afraid I just might drop dead of a stroke if I actually laid my hands (so to speak) on a copy.

Are they abandoned?

[scourge]

Yee-haw. Another tardy reply. I forgot to check back in again. Well, rather more a matter of actually having time to do so when it happens to cross my spaced-out, stressed-out mind, but whatever. Such is life in this modern world.

At any rate, yeah, as far as I can tell, it's abandoned, at least in the informal "abandonware" sense...Not legally, but then the whole abandonware thing has always been more about a "grey" area where ethics, ideals, and legality overlap in a rather fuzzy fashion, rather than a proper, clean legal definition. Seldom are any so-called abandonware offerings actually abandoned or released in the proper legal sense.

But insofar as whether or not it is still sold anywhere, it's "abandoned. To the best of my knowledge it cannot be found for sale anywhere, in even limited quantities, for any price, save perhaps the odd secondhand preowned "yard sale" copy on ebay or the like. I know Underdogs and her handpicked admins were quite stringent and conscientious about ensuring that an item was unavailable for sale before it was made available for download, and items were routinely checked to ensure that this stayed true, if an item's status did change the item was made unavailable for download again. ROE2 and Breach 3 were up for quite awhile before the site's untimely death, so this tends to support the assumption that they are abandoned. Also, a cursory check via google with 3 or 4 different search queries shows only abandonware download sites with any mention of either roe2 or b3. Nothing offering for it sale. If there are any "buy link specialists" hereabouts, feel free to doublecheck, but I'm pretty certain it's not available for sale anywhere. So...Does that purty well cover it for ya, then? 'Cause it's time for me to quit my endless rambling and hit the rack fer about three hours of sleep, if I'm lucky.